By Staff | Phoenix Business Journal A rendering of Portico, a 112-unit luxury condominium community Belgravia Group is building northeast of Scottsdale Road and Loop 101 in north Scottsdale.   Chicago-based Belgravia Group Ltd. has broken ground on a $100 million luxury condominium project in north Scottsdale. With nearly 50% of the project already sold, initial deliveries are expected in late summer 2024 for the private gated community, called Portico – North Scottsdale, located within DMB’s One Scottsdale master-planned development slated to include up to 2.8 million square feet of ret ..read more

By Ron Davis | Phoenix Business Journal Back in November, a vigorous bidding war broke out at a state land auction between two Valley hospitals for 48 acres of north Scottsdale land. Phoenix-based Banner Health had been working with the city of Scottsdale earlier in the year on entitlements for the land before it went for auction on Nov. 16. But HonorHealth also brought its auction paddle to compete for the land. The $56.95 million minimum bid ratcheted up to $84 million, with HonorHealth walking away the winner of the land at the northeast corner of Loop 101 and Hayden Road. When Banner CFO D ..read more

By Christopher Flavelle, Jill Cowan and Ivan Penn | The New York Times The climate crisis is becoming a financial crisis. This month, the largest homeowner insurance company in California, State Farm, announced that it would stop selling coverage to homeowners. That’s not just in wildfire zones, but everywhere in the state. Insurance companies, tired of losing money, are raising rates, restricting coverage or pulling out of some areas altogether — making it more expensive for people to live in their homes. “Risk has a price,” said Roy Wright, the former official in charge of insurance at the ..read more

By Catherine Reagor | Arizona Republic The housing crisis keeps frontline advocates who participated in an Urban Land Institute Arizona panel discussion up at night. “It’s thinking about what raising rates will mean that keeps me up,” said Terry Benelli, executive director of LISC Phoenix. “Or it’s thinking about my son, who is a school teacher and can’t afford a house.” Tom Simplot, the former director of the Arizona Housing Department, said the state’s housing shortage is his big concern. “We’re not building our way out of this fast enough,” said Simplot, who is now director of housing polic ..read more

By MacKenzie Brower | Daily Independent As summer approaches, upon which Paradise Valley Town Council takes a recess, the latest meeting on May 25 saw a long agenda. Town Council approved three items on the consent agenda (including) funding for homelessness initiatives. Funding for homelessness initiatives was unanimously approved 6-0. (Council Member Ellen) Andeen was not present. Town Council will provide $200,000 to the Maricopa Association of Governments for its distribution in the city of Scottsdale to homelessness initiatives that meet the proposed policy direction of the council ..read more

By Ron Davis | Phoenix Business Journal Scottsdale is known within and outside of the Valley as a tourism and party destination, but the city is looking to ramp up its target industries, which are finance, health care, technology and logistics management. Some of those are coming to new existing and new offices throughout the city. On the north side of town, a corporate corridor is in the infancy stages of development. Big projects such as Nationwide Realty Investors’ Cavasson have a few office buildings up and running and is considered one of the top office destinations in all of Scottsdale ..read more

By Erica Werner | The Washington Post When Heather Millstone moved from Baltimore to Los Angeles and started house-hunting, she had one major goal: A home with a yard big enough to build another, smaller house so she could rent out one of the properties to supplement her income. A few blocks away, Lali Grewal and his wife, Anne Marie, made a similar calculation when they moved to the city last summer. They’re now living in a tiny but cozy home behind a bigger house they’re fixing up to rent out. Millstone and the Grewals are part of a trend that’s busting out all over the state, and — som ..read more

By Audrey Jensen | Phoenix Business Journal Several challenges in the economy could impact Arizona’s economic development going into the rest of 2023. As Arizona continues setting itself up for more growth, more than 100 economic development professionals in the state say they are concerned over some of the biggest challenges the state is facing. This includes Arizona’s shortfalls in housing and available buildings, the ongoing drought and water shortages, talent supply and city processes, according to a new Arizona Association for Economic Development survey of 120 economic development p ..read more

By Bob Burns | Fountain Hills Times P&Z recommends approval of new apartment complex The Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending the Town Council approve a request for a special use permit for a 10-unit residential apartment complex at Fountain Hills and Glenbrook boulevards. The proposal from the developer calls for 10 units in three buildings on approximately one-third acre. The proposed apartments are two stories with a garage for each unit. This area has been zoned and platted prior to incorporation of the Town for commercial uses. It is still the desire of the Town to ha ..read more

By Melissa Rosequist | Daily Independent Imagine spotting something in the sky that doesn’t look like an airplane or anything you’ve seen before. What is it? This is a question thousands of people have asked themselves as they gaze into the sky with wonderment. Are unidentified flying objects real? Judging by their popularity in pop culture and society, along with the number of UFO sightings reported in Arizona recently and historically, it’s hard to deny many people do believe in UFOs. Perhaps, people are just more comfortable admitting they believe in the extraterrestrials. In 1997, a ..read more